DOJ Civil Rights Division Targets Virginia Gun-Law Enforcement After Background-Check Volume Tops 100,000 in June

The U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division says it is actively monitoring Virginia's contested assault-weapons ban after a Lancaster County judge blocked the law's enforcement through Dec. 31 and a spike in background-check applications — more than 100,000 processed by Virginia State Police in June alone, averaging over 5,000 transactions a day — left firearm buyers facing extended waits. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said her office is "all over this" case and similar instances of what she called "gun-grabbing nonsense nationally," responding to concerns raised in part by a fellow Trump administration official.

Judge Blocks the Ban, Citing Rational-Basis Flaw

Judge John Martin of Lancaster County in Virginia's Northern Neck issued the preliminary injunction halting the law through Dec. 31, ruling that the firearm characteristics the ban identifies lack a rational basis because handguns are excluded despite fitting the legislature's stated military-style rationale. The suit was filed by a Virginia resident seeking to buy a firearm at a Kilmarnock gun store, joined by Gun Owners of America and the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Establishing standing in GOP-friendly Lancaster County was a deliberate legal strategy; the head of the Virginia State Police, Col. Jeffrey Katz — a Spanberger appointee — is listed as the defendant.

Background-Check Backlog Draws Federal Scrutiny

Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Andrew Ferguson alleged that, after visiting his local gun store following the ruling, he encountered what he described as an "en masse" delay in background checks processed by the Virginia State Police. He called it "one of the most flagrant violations of our rights" he had seen and accused state officers of helping enforce the law through the back door while it is under judicial review. VSP spokesperson Matthew Demlein pushed back, attributing delays to extraordinary transaction volume rather than intentional action. Philip Van Cleave, whose Virginia Citizens Defense League is a co-plaintiff in the case, said he was not convinced the delays were deliberate, pointing instead to a system not built to handle the volume that the legislation generated. Virginia law does provide a release valve: if VSP does not respond within five business days after a dealer completes required steps, the dealer may legally complete the sale.

The Law and Its Political Context

Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the assault-weapons ban in May after it cleared the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. The bill was authored in the House by Del. Dan Helmer of Fairfax and in the Senate by Sen. Saddam Salim of Dunn Loring. Spanberger said at signing that she would work with the bill's authors to clarify language she had sought to change, specifically to carve out commonly used hunting firearms the legislature declined to exempt. Attorney General Jay Jones, defending the law, said assault weapons are designed to inflict maximum damage in seconds and that the ban is constitutional under the Virginia Constitution. Critics cited a commission convened after the Virginia Tech massacre by then-Gov. Tim Kaine, which found that magazine limits of the kind the new law targets would have made no difference in that shooting's outcome. The Supreme Court's recent rulings striking down gun restrictions in New York and the District of Columbia have supplied the legal framework challengers are using to contest similar measures in Virginia and elsewhere.